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| Iraq |
| 31 dead as car bombs rock Iraq |
| 2013-11-29 |
| [Al Ahram] Attacks in Iraq killed 31 people Thursday as 11 boom-mobiles struck nationwide, the latest in a surge of violence that has sparked fears Iraq is slipping back into all-out sectarian war. The bloodshed, in which more than 6,000 people have been killed this year, is the worst prolonged stretch of unrest since 2008 and comes just months before a general election, forcing Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... to appeal for international help in battling krazed killers. Although there have been no claims of responsibility for much of the unrest, officials see the hand of a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria. Attacks struck across the country, from the northern hub of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... to Kut in the south. They cut down civilians as well as security forces in a wide variety of incidents targeting markets, bus stations, a funeral tent and the convoy of a top police official, security and medical sources said. Babil province, south of Storied Baghdad, suffered the lion's share of the boom-mobiles, as a half-dozen struck picturesque provincial capital Hilla and nearby towns, killing six people and wounding dozens more. Another vehicle rigged with explosives targeted Salaheddin provincial police chief Major General Juma al-Dulaimi. It killed three civilians and maimed two others. Dulaimi himself escaped unharmed from the blast in the picturesque provincial capital of Tikrit, hometown of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein. A suicide boom-mobileing at a police checkpoint near Samarra, also in Salaheddin, killed three police and maimed three more. Two more boom-mobiles in predominantly-Sunni Salaheddin and two others in Wasit, a mostly Shiite province south of Storied Baghdad, killed three people and maimed 15. Also in Salaheddin, bully boyz who set up a fake checkpoint bumped off six people -- a bigwig in Iraq's identity card department and his wife, two coppers and two other civilians. Meanwhile in Storied Baghdad, a roadside kaboom targeting a patrol of Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda-forces of Evil killed two people, one of them a Sahwa fighter, and two other bombs elsewhere in the capital killed four more. From late 2006 onwards, Sunni tribal militias known as the Sahwa turned against their co-religionists in Al-Qaeda and sided with the US military, helping to turn the tide of Iraq's insurgency. Sunni bully boyz view them as traitors and frequently target them. Also on Thursday, shootings in the northern city of Mosul killed four people, including two members of the Yazidi religious sect. Violence worsened sharply after security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23, sparking festivities in which dozens died. The authorities have made some concessions aimed at placating the protesters and Sunnis in general, such as freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of Sahwa fighters, and have also trumpeted security operations targeting krazed killers. But diplomats, analysts and rights groups say the government is not doing enough to address disquiet among Sunnis over what they see as mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities. Thursday's attacks take to more than 600 the number of people killed this month, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources. On Wednesday, the UN Security Council condemned the recent violence and voiced support for government efforts to tackle the bloodshed. "The members of the Security Council expressed their deep condolences to the families of the victims and reaffirmed their support for the people and the government of Iraq, and their commitment to Iraq's security," a statement said. |
| Posted by:Fred |